Monday, 11 August 2014

I am surprised to see this news in XinMsn.

YAHOO PLANS TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR TO YOUTUBE!!!!

BUT IN YAHOO STYLE!!!

According to Ad Age, the rival service is not only at an advanced stage of development, it had been scheduled to launch in April. However, the big reveal is being pushed back while contractual issues are addressed.

While YouTube is by far the biggest video sharing site on the web -- 1 billion active monthly users and counting -- it is by no means the only business operating in this space and Yahoo believes that it can attract producers and creators by offering a better split of advertising revenue.

As well as a standalone portal, Yahoo wants to make it easy to embed videos on other sites across the web and to host clips on all of the company's other web properties, be it the Yahoo.com homepage or Tumblr.

And, perhaps best of all, for the people who actually create the videos, Yahoo won't be demanding exclusivity -- in other words they can post the same clips to YouTube, too. It just hopes that they'll choose to post on Yahoo first.

Tuesday, 5 August 2014

4 GOOD REASONS YOU NEED A MOBILE APPLICATION NEXT REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

1) Control your content.

By creating an interactive mobile app, the interface can allow you to control the virtual user experience. Whether this is walking them through potential units or touring them around the entire condominium complex, mobile applications allow clients to immerse themselves in the project from the comfort of their couch. Think about apps as a dynamic selling tool that clients can reference at home as a substitute or in addition to traditional print material. As a completely unique shopping experience, your clients can virtually immerse themselves in the project identifying with the brand and creating a thorough understanding of the property. This in turn will generate trust with the buyer and foster confidence in their purchasing decision.

2) Wow Factor

Mobile applications done correctly tend to have a certain “wow factor” about them beyond a traditional website. Innovative mobile applications are being developed with increasingly more sophisticated technology, increasing the quality of the rendered images and enhancing the user experience. This is particularly important in the real estate industry where highlighting the property and its design features are key to generating sales. Moreover, the best applications are highly interactive allowing the user to immerse themselves in the property in order to learn and explore in depth.

For instance, using GPS in your app is an excellent way to lead clients directly to your sales centre site. Technology like GPS and SMS typically work better with your mobile device through applications and are an additional benefit to making your application more useful.

3) Connect with foreign buyers in their local language, measurements and currency.

Many of the projects we work with target foreign investment for a significant portion of sales. When marketing internationally, mobile apps allow your project to be displayed exactly how you intended without worrying about host server, bandwidth and other disruptive internet issues. Rather, after the application is loaded on to your prospects mobile device, they can use it without even being connected to the internet. Three main real estate related content issues that can vary between countries:

1) Currency

2) Language

3) Sqft vs. Sqm

In addition, foreign buyers will appreciate the design and communication elements created specifically for individual geographic markets. For instance, if you were focusing on Chinese buyers, the featured units should highlight design feng shui features, have mortgage calculators in renminbi and mandarin as an alternative language.

4) Sales Convenience

Finally, mobile apps offer a lot of convenience for both in house and external sales staff. First and foremost, many apps don’t require access to the internet to utilize the application. This means if the user is mobile and without WIFI they can browse your app to their hearts content without bandwidth or roaming issues. It's accessible technology. Again, this can be particularly valuable to foreign investors, who may be using your website overseas and have only limited connectivity. However local prospects and sales staff will also find this useful as they can literally browse properties anytime, anywhere.

Bonus Tip: Mobile applications are always evolving in their sophistication. For example, functionality is continuously improving through innovative technology like augmented reality. Augmented reality can take your marketing campaign to the next level of interactivity with a major wow factor. The augmented reality ideas that are popping up in the real estate marketing space are particularly exciting. Imagine a virtual 3D Ipad tour of a new home or new 3D skyline views growing out of your print advertisement. Augmented reality truly offers an innovative way of differentiating yourself from other real estate developments.

In essence, mobile applications are an exciting marketing tool to promote the design and character of any development. They are fast, convenient and dynamic technology, ideal for the design nature of the real estate industry and attracting international buyer’s attention.

The Demographics of Singapore Mobile Phone Users

Singapore has a mobile penetration rate at a massive 148.9% of which three-quarters are 3G subscriptions.

Research data from 2013 shows that among daily Internet users, Singapore smartphone penetration has increased from 74 percent in 2012 to 78 percent in 2013 while tablet penetration has increased from 31% in 2012 to 42% in 2013.

A noticeable change is the jump in apps usage from 70% in 2012 to 75% in 2013, which ranks Singapore fifth in apps usage amongst the 43 countries included in this years’ analysis. In 2012, Singapore was ranked as number 9.

At the same time, there is an increase in the usage of instant messaging, social networks, and video among those who are smartphone users. “If we look at comparable data for other countries, we can say that Singaporeans tend to make smarter use of their smartphones – respondents surveyed said they used their smartphone for apps, to send and receive instant messages, view video clips, and keep up with friends in their social networks,” Afrizal Abdul Rahim, Ericsson ConsumerLab head for Southeast Asia and Oceania, revealed. The top three reasons for downloading apps among Singaporeans are to perform specific tasks/ functions, to keep in touch with people more easily and to access content on-the-go. “Based on this we can conclude that Singaporeans are favoring utility, communication and content based-apps.”

Smartphone penetration increased by 4% from 2012 to 2013. “Singapore started from a very high base in 2012 with 74% smartphone penetration – the highest that was registered among all surveyed countries last year. Even as ownership already registered a 4% increase to 78% for 2013, an additional 5% of the respondents surveyed indicated that they would buy a smartphone in the next six months.” Among the top reasons given by the respondents on their intent to purchase a smartphone included to upgrade their device, to access relevant apps and to surf the Internet.

Among daily internet users, tablet penetration on the other hand increased by 11% from 2012 to 2013. “If we only look at the Asian countries that were surveyed for this study, we can see that Singapore retained its position at number two, while Hong Kong retained the top spot with a 55% penetration rate for tablets.”

The findings on smartphone penetration for Singapore are aligned with Ericsson’s global findings in its June 2013 Mobility Report. “Based on the data that we gathered from the networks that we manage around the world, we now forecast an even stronger uptake of smartphones. Smartphone subscriptions in 2018 are now forecast to reach 4.5 billion1, compared to our previous (Nov 2012) forecast of 3.3 billion in 2018. This is not least due to a notable increase in the number of smartphone subscriptions in APAC and MEA regions, as subscribers switch their basic phone subscriptions into smartphone subscriptions,” Afrizal explained.

Globally, Ericsson estimates that total smartphone subscriptions reached 1.2 billion at the end of 2012 and are expected to reach 4.5 billion in 2018. Afrizal further revealed that “Around 50% of all mobile phones sold in Q1 2013 were smartphones, compared to around 40% for the full year in 2012.”

Singaporeans own the most smartphones in Asia Pacific

According to a release, Although smartphone popularity is soaring across the Asia Pacific region, resulting in increased consumption of mobile media, advertisers are yet to identify the key to effective engagement via mobile advertising, according to a global study undertaken by Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and information on what consumers watch and buy.

Nielsen’s Smartphone Insights Study, conducted across 39 markets globally (including 13 Asia Pacific markets), highlighted the prevalence of smartphones in the Asia Pacific region in recent years, and in many markets smartphones now out-number non-smartphones, including Singapore, which has the highest smartphone ownership in Asia Pacific, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

As smartphone ownership continued to increase, mobile internet usage was also on the rise, in particular social networking and internet search. Mobile social networking was especially popular in Hong Kong and Malaysia, where 76 percent and 74 percent of smartphone users respectively engaged in mobile social networking in the past month.

“Growing use of location-based services and location-aware services such as maps and navigation present strong opportunities for companies to tap into the functionality and insight that these services present,” observes Vishal Bali, Managing Director of Nielsen’s Telecom Industry Group in the APMEA Region.

“In particular, location-aware services provide great potential for location-based shopping and convenience services. Although currently both location-based and location-aware services are being primarily utilized by smartphone users in mature markets such as Korea, Japan, Singapore and China, other markets in Asia such as Indonesia and Malaysia where currently the usage is more focused on social networking and search will be quick to catch up as availability of these services improves.”

The constant connectivity of smartphones provides an ideal platform for advertisers to reach their consumers, however, to date we are seeing a significant level of resistance among smartphone users towards mobile advertising,” states Bali. “Hence, it becomes important for advertisers to understand various factors that can help to improve acceptance levels and provide a better ROI.”

Bali notes that such factors include, but are not limited to:1. improved creative and design elements tailored to the mobile platform;2. availability of various ad formats to cater to different screen sizes as well as having a targeted approach rather than going for mass advertising; and3. utilizing contextual advertisements that are location-specific and provide smartphone users with access to free content.

“Marketers must build in these key hooks to get a better response and engagement with their brands,” concludes Bali.

- See more at: http://sbr.com.sg/telecom-internet/news/singaporeans-own-most-smartphones-in-asia-pacific#sthash.hoM0O1Sy.dpuf

With 140% mobile penetration, Malaysia has 10M smartphone users

http://e27.co/140-mobile-penetration-malaysia-10m-smartphone-users/

According to On Device research, Malaysia’s mobile landscape is performing better than most Southeast Asian countries, and even the United States

On Device Research has recently published an interesting report on Mobile Malaysia: ahead of the pack. The report helps us to understand the mobile landscape in Malaysia, especially the smartphone trend, and how it implies to mobile commerce and mobile payment.

To our surprise (and possibly yours too), Malaysia fares better in mobile landscape compared to most Southeast Asia countries, and even United States!

Key statistics of mobile users in Malaysia

First of all, let’s go through some of the key indicators of internet and mobile landscape in Malaysia:

According to World Bank, Malaysia, with 140 per cent mobile penetration, is leading Indonesia, Thailand and even United States! Only Singapore and Vietnam in Southeast Asia have higher mobile penetration than Malaysia.

Our earlier report shows 27 per cent smartphone penetration, but the latest data stands at 35 per cent, which means there are more than 10 million smartphone users in Malaysia. McCann even predicted that smartphone penetration in Malaysia will rise to 60 per cent by 2015.

On Device Research has also presented a breakdown of smartphone OS in Malaysia, with Android leading with 65 per cent, followed by iOS and Windows.

Due to the fact that three major mobile carriers in Malaysia are competing with each other in customer acquisition, affordable smartphone plans are the major factors contributing to the smartphone adoption.

Mobile commerce in Malaysia

According to Nielsen and PayPal Analysis, e-commerce market size in Malaysia was supposed to be RM 3.65 billion in 2013, including the transactions of both, services and products. If we refer to Euromonitor’s report, RM 1.24 billion (or 34 per cent of PayPal’s report) are products-only transactions.

Nielsen-PayPal reported RM 1.82 billion of mobile commerce in 2013, which represents close to 50 per cent of total e-commerce market size. Interestingly, mobile share of online commerce was only 5.5 per cent as recent as 2010, and it is projected to reach 59.6 per cent in 2015.

Next, what do Malaysians purchase on their mobile devices?

As expected, movie tickets are the main driver for smartphone purchases followed by fashion and accessories, while airline tickets are the most popular items Malaysians purchase on tablets.

Mobile payment

Since movie tickets are the most popular items Malaysians buy on smartphone, let’s take a look at what kind of mobile payment methods accepted by the leading cinema in Malaysia – GSC.

If you refer to the screenshot above, GSC only accepts M2U, RHB (both online banking) and PayPal. We personally think PayPal provides the best user experience in m-payment, as compared to online banking which requires Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC).

Singapore hits mobile penetration rates of 148.9%

With an increasingly vibrant smartphone landscape, Singapore is fast becoming the most mobile-saavy population in the South-east Asia region. The smartphone ecosystem in Singapore has also grown to be incredibly sophisticated, leading to telcos and consumers brands watching the smartphone trend more closely than before.

Out of the 500 who were surveyed, 88% owned smartphones. Those aged 25-39 years had the highest levels of smartphone ownership at 92%, whereas those aged 55 and above had the second highest levels of percentage at 83%.

Amongst all these smartphone owners, the iPhone is a market giant at 73% share. Despite Samsung’s recent rise as the world’s number 1 handset maker, Andriod handsets still lag behind at 17%. Followed by other type of smartphones (Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile) capturing only 8% of the market.

Demographics of Smartphone Owners

An interesting finding noted that there was a spike in smartphone ownership amongst consumers who possessed $8-$12k monthly household income and those under senior management.

Out of the 73% who used iPhones, 82% of them belonged affluent heartlanders living in HDB 5 room flats and Executive Condominiums. 77% of those using iPhones were also found to be females.

Out of the 17% who use Andriod-based phones, 23% of them belonged to those who lived in HDB 1-3 room flats. 23% of them were also of 55 years old and above.

Telco Smartphone Subscription

With 3G subscriptions taking up 75% of all subscription, Singtel, Starhub and M1 have been fighting to get a significnat share of the lucrative smartphone market. Singtel stands as the dominant player at 42%, while Starhub and M1 have 33% and 25% or market share respectively.

Demographics of Telcos Subscribers

Findings have shown that Singtel successfully captured the youth and higher affluent market with 49% of users possessing $8-$12k monthly household income and 55% of users aged 24 and below.

M1 and Starhub showed more success amongst heartland Singaporeans. 34% of M1 users lived in HDB 1-3 room flats and 35% of them have professional qualifications.

40% of Starhub users lived in HDB 4 room flats and 41% of them only had a secondary education and below.

User Satisfaction

Participants were also asked to rate five features of telco services that there were most unhappy about. These five features were current pricing plans, customer service, terms and conditions of phone contract, 3G reception and speed, and oversease data roaming charges.

M1 stood with the highest rating for customer service at 40% of customers giving them an excellent rating of 7-10. Starhub scored the worst of its 3G reception, with 37% of customers giving them an unperforming rating of 0-3.

However, 49% of all the smartphone owners surveyed indicated that they were most unhappy about the cost of overseas roaming data.

Wi-fi vs 3G networks Usage

Results of the difference between time allocated on Wi-fi and 3G networks usage were not significant. Most smartphone users spent 55% of their time on 3G usage and 45% on Wi-fi.

It’s no surprise that Wi-Fi usage is so popular. Both iPhone and Android users are widely encouraged to use Wi-Fi over 3G networks for longer battery life and faster connection speeds.

58% of those who spent longer on 3G networks were more likely to rate their 3G connections as less than satisfactory.

It should come as little surprise that much of this growth is being fuelled by connected mobile devices, but this year’s data do reveal some interesting trends and anomalies, especially in relation to Japan and Korea.

You’ll find the complete story in the SlideShare deck above, but we’ve pulled out some of the highlights below.

While this represents around 150 million more users than this time last year, these numbers may still be conservative. Reliable, recent data for some countries remains patchy, but the International Communications Union estimates that there are probably closer to 3 billion global internet users, with most of the difference made up by mobile-only connections.

Users are still not distributed evenly either, with some parts of the world still struggling to reach double-digit internet penetration. In particular, Africa, Central and Southern Asia all report relatively low numbers, although it’s worth highlighting that mobile internet users may contribute a significant – yet uncounted – increase in these areas.

With reference to the continued growth in internet penetration, it seems clear that mobile connections will account for the vast majority of new sign-ups in the coming months. As the chart below highlights, the distribution of mobile penetration matches much more closely to the distribution of the world’s population, meaning most people around the world now have a realistic opportunity to access the internet:

The cost of mobile data clearly remains a barrier in much of the remaining world, but as costs continue to fall, and as the benefits continue to increase, it’s likely we’ll see more and more people in the developing world putting increased importance on reliable internet access.

Social MediaSocial channels continued to show strong growth over the past 12 months, with top social networks adding more than 135 million new users in the course of 2013.

This number is slightly misrepresentative of actual growth though, as we’ve decided to focus solely on monthly active user figures to report social media usage in this year’s report. As a result, some numbers may appear lower than they did this time last year (when we used total registered user numbers for some platforms), while the actual growth in active usage may appear smaller than it really was.

Due to the different usage contexts, associated behaviours and opportunities for brands, we’ve also chosen to treat chat apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat separately to social networks in this year’s report.

However, these platforms continue to capture significant interest from users and marketers alike, a trend reflected in their huge active user bases:

It also appears that social media is now an engrained part of the lives of people across different demographic groups. This increased ubiquity may result in some changes to the specific demographic bases of individual platforms, but even if people’s habits are changing, it appears that people are moving from one social platform to another, rather than deserting social media in its entirety.

As might be expected, mobile is playing an increasingly important part in the social media landscape. Facebook reports that almost three quarters of its 1.2 billion monthly active users around the world access the platform through mobile, while on any given day, almost half of its users are mobile only.

The importance of mobile is mirrored across other platforms too, with Twitter increasingly a mobile-dominated platform, and platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat and Instagram depending entirely on a mobile ecosystem.

The number of mobile subscriptions jumped by 173 million in 2013, and the number of active mobile subscriptions around the world now equates to roughly 93% of the world’s population.

Penetration rates are more healthy all over the world too, with two-thirds of Africa’s population now mobile powered. Meanwhile, many regions – including those in the developing world – have penetration levels far in excess of 100%:

A Regional ViewWhile the picture in many Western countries has converged, there are a number of areas around the world that maintain their idiosyncrasies. In particular, China and Eastern Europe continue to prefer local social networks, while Africa, Central and South Asia are considerably under-represented when it comes to internet penetration:

However, both Japan and South Korea have seen some fragmentation of the social media landscape, with chat apps like LINE and Kakaotalk continuing to gain momentum. Neither company releases monthly active user numbers though, so it’s hard to know exactly how these platforms compare to the more traditional networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Interestingly, however, ‘claimed’ usage of social media in both countries differs dramatically from the picture painted by Facebook’s monthly active user numbers, suggesting that Northeast Asia’s netizens may be harnessing a wider variety of platforms.

Facebook continues to lead Twitter in both countries though, and appears to maintain its top spot almost everywhere.

China and countries in Eastern Europe host the few exceptions to Facebook’s global dominance, with Qzone and VKontakte claiming the top spots in a handful of nations.

However, with more than 1 billion monthly active users, it’s safe to say that Facebook will continue to play a central role in the social media landscape in 2014 too.

The Local PictureWe’ve gone into an extra level of detail in this year’s report too, offering insights into the local digital ecosystem across 24 of the world’s biggest economies:

Alongside offering the key digital indicators, we’ve also collated some key behavioural indicators, including time spent on the internet and on social media, as well as the prevalence of important activities on connected mobile devices.